MBB: IPFW To Play EKU In BracketBusters

FORT WAYNE - The Eastern Kentucky University men’s basketball team found out today it will host IPFW on Saturday, Feb. 18 as part of the Sears BracketBusters series. The game, scheduled for tip at 7 p.m., was not one of the 13 chosen for television.

The Sears Bracketbusters is a three-day men's college basketball event pitting potential NCAA Championship hopefuls against each other Feb. 17-19. The NCAA hopefuls will be selected from a pool of 142 teams from 16 conferences, the largest Sears BracketBusters pool in the event's history, which includes two team that reached the 2011 Final Four in Houston.

Eastern Kentucky is 12-11 this season, and an even 5-5 in Ohio Valley Conference play. The teams have only one common opponent so far this year, as each of the squads have topped UT Martin - with the Mastodons winning by six and the Colonels by eight.

EKU is led by Jaron Jones, a 6-5 senior guard out of Lexington, Ky. who is the only player on the team to average in double-figures at 17.0 points per game. Joshua Jones averages 9.4, while Eric Stutz, the team's tallest player at 6-8, averages 8.7 points and a team-best 5.1 rebounds per game.

The two teams have met twice all-time, splitting the two meetings. Eastern Kentucky won the first meeting in overtime 100-96 in Richmond, Ky. on January 15, 2002, before the Mastodons evened the score with a 79-76 win in Fort Wayne the next season.

The Mastodons are currently 10-11 on the season, and are led by Frank Gaines who averages 19.8 points per game, while Trey McCorkle averages 11.5.